A bull overpowered by dogs

The fire in the old Alcázar of Madrid broke out on the night of 24 December 1734 and burned for four days. More than 500 paintings from the royal collection were lost, and others went out through the windows in whatever hands were free. The Prado's catalogues record this canvas among the ones that came out. What was carried to safety is a hunt at its ugliest moment. A bull has been pulled down onto the grass by 11 dogs, and two of them are howling, caught under the weight of the animal they have just killed. The museum dates the picture no more closely than the 16th to 17th century. In the inventory of the new Royal Palace, drawn up 13 years after the fire, it appears among the paintings that were never hung.